Early numbers for Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing initiative released
Straight.com
Numbers from city hall provide an initial postmortem of a controversial program of financial and other incentives for developers to build market rental homes in Vancouver.
The figures, relating to the Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing that ended on December 15, 2011, were received recently by city hall watchdog Randy Helten.
According to data forwarded by Helten to the Georgia Straight, the city granted permits for three STIR projects with 347 rental units. The city also approved five other STIR developments with 242 units, but permits for these were pending as of December 15 last year.
Some 17 applications under the program are likewise in the pipeline. These involve 1,041 units. Two other STIR applications with 48 units were on hold as of mid-December.
The information relayed to Helten by the city didn’t include costs to the city, which are ultimately taxpayer dollars. Critics of STIR have claimed that the program subsidizes developers by about $100,000 per rental unit built.
The STIR program didn’t include rent controls.
Helten noted that about 25 percent of STIR-related units will be located in his neighbourhood, the West End. One project involves a pending rezoning for Beach Towers, a residential complex overlooking English Bay. According to online city information, the owner wants to add 136 units to the almost 600 rental apartments currently existing in four 19- to 21-storey buildings at 1600 Beach Avenue and 1651 Harwood Street.
On the city’s East Side, there is also a STIR component to a huge development proposed for a property bounded by Broadway, Kingsway, 10th Avenue, and Watson Street. The mixed-use project includes 241 mostly condo homes and 15 STIR rentals. If approved, the development will consist of four new buildings. One is a 19-storey tower.
“It’s not going to be affordable for folks in the area,” Mount Pleasant activist Grace MacKenzie told the Straight by phone about the new dwelling units being planned for her neighbourhood.
Numbers from city hall provide an initial postmortem of a controversial program of financial and other incentives for developers to build market rental homes in Vancouver.
The figures, relating to the Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing that ended on December 15, 2011, were received recently by city hall watchdog Randy Helten.
According to data forwarded by Helten to the Georgia Straight, the city granted permits for three STIR projects with 347 rental units. The city also approved five other STIR developments with 242 units, but permits for these were pending as of December 15 last year.
Some 17 applications under the program are likewise in the pipeline. These involve 1,041 units. Two other STIR applications with 48 units were on hold as of mid-December.
The information relayed to Helten by the city didn’t include costs to the city, which are ultimately taxpayer dollars. Critics of STIR have claimed that the program subsidizes developers by about $100,000 per rental unit built.
The STIR program didn’t include rent controls.
Helten noted that about 25 percent of STIR-related units will be located in his neighbourhood, the West End. One project involves a pending rezoning for Beach Towers, a residential complex overlooking English Bay. According to online city information, the owner wants to add 136 units to the almost 600 rental apartments currently existing in four 19- to 21-storey buildings at 1600 Beach Avenue and 1651 Harwood Street.
On the city’s East Side, there is also a STIR component to a huge development proposed for a property bounded by Broadway, Kingsway, 10th Avenue, and Watson Street. The mixed-use project includes 241 mostly condo homes and 15 STIR rentals. If approved, the development will consist of four new buildings. One is a 19-storey tower.
“It’s not going to be affordable for folks in the area,” Mount Pleasant activist Grace MacKenzie told the Straight by phone about the new dwelling units being planned for her neighbourhood.
